I discovered this simple but delicious dessert while visiting Madagascar a good few years ago and it has remained a family favourite since.

Madagascar is home to a wide range of fruit and their bananas, in particular, are large and bursting with flavour, not that there is anything wrong with our locally grown bananas. For this baked banana dessert it is important to use large, just ripe, but still firm bananas.

Unfortunately the coffee liqueur cannot be left out because it plays a key role in providing flavour to the dish.

The beauty of this baked banana dish is that you can add all sorts of extras in the form of other fruits and you can serve it with custard, cream, ice cream or a wickedly naughty but delicious chocolate sauce.

It's an easy, inexpensive dessert to prepare and all you need to serve four portions are:

Ingredients

4 large, firm bananas, peeled and sliced in half lengthways

1 cup very strong black espresso style coffee

¾ cup Kahlua coffee liqueur

4 tablespoons brown sugar

Method

Place the bananas in a lightly buttered ovenproof dish.

Mix the sugar, coffee and liqueur and pour over the bananas.

Place in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for 20 minutes.

Grate a small slab of good dark chocolate (or any chocolate of your choice) over the bananas a minute before removing it from the oven.

You could even sprinkle a few marshmallows over and grill just before serving.

Serve warm.